Almost Sold-Out Crowd

Gerald inspected his new seat in the balcony, wiped off the cushion, and dropped his butt.

A young couple wearing matching jerseys looked at him like a ghost, and then whispered something to each other. The gentleman crusader tapped Gerald on the shoulder, “Hey, why are you so late?”

Gerald finished sipping his beer, “I’m not late, well I am, but I just bought this ticket and rushed over here.”

The couple’s faces scrunched in five directions. They promptly sat up and walked out of the stadium. An older gentleman in a vintage jersey leaned over to Gerald to inform him that a stadium official, not five minutes earlier, announced this was a sold-out crowd. The older man got up and left. All around Gerald, people threw down merchandise, gathered their things, and walked toward the exits mumbling and groaning, precipitating the entire crowd to exit, and leaving Gerald alone in his seat.